Perpetual motion

by Otis Stuart

With his electrifying leaps and volatile personality - both onstage and off - Rudolf Nureyev changed the role of the male ballet dancer for all time. A star from the moment of his celebrated defection in 1961, Nureyev was an instant sensation in the dance world, the first male ballet performer to become an international sex symbol. His storied partnership with Dame Margot Fonteyn lives in the memory of all who saw them. In later years, well past his peak, Nureyev led a succession of international dance ensembles across the world's stages. At an age when most dancers have long retired, Nureyev continued performing because, as Otis Stuart tells us, for Nureyev, to dance was to live. After a brilliant reign as both star and enfant terrible, however, Nureyev's last years were marked by controversy and turmoil in his tenure as director of the Paris Opera Ballet. At the same time, he was dying of AIDS, a fact that he never publicly acknowledged. Now, for the first time, Perpetual Motion show